Tonle Sap and On To Phnom Penn

Floating fishing village

On our last morning in Siem Reap we went south from Siem Reap about 30 minutes along a road that runs along the Siem Reap river, to the great lake of Tonle Sap. We took a boat ride out onto the lake to visit a floating fishing village. On the way, we were approached by a number of small boats trying to sell us souvenirs and, much to Sally's horror, two of them had pythons and tried to get us to pay to have photos taken with them - we didn't!

Children playing on the water

The fishing village is a collection of floating shacks loosely tethered to the mangrove trees along the edge of the lake. It's incredible that people can live in these conditions, spending all their lives on the water. That said, many of them have TVs powered by batteries (these are charged by a floating charging station using a generator), there are floating schools, supermarkets, churches, even a floating basketball court! Small boats weave between the shacks delivering fruit and vegetables and other supplies.

Our transport to Phnom Penh

In the afternoon we transferred to the airport and boarded a turboprop aircraft for the short flight along the Mekong Delta to Phnom Penh, names I immediately associate with the Vietnam war after hearing them on the TV News when I was young.

Nice touch

We were driven to a rather nice hotel in the centre of Phnom Penh where we found they'd put rose petals on the bed spelling out 'Happy Honeymoon', which was a nice touch.

In the evening we went by Tuk Tuk to a restaurant recommended by our guide by the side of the river. The food was lovely (and very cheap) but we were pestered constantly by children begging or selling books and flowers; we'd had this previously when visiting the temples in Angkor, but not to this extent. Giving money to them just makes you more of a target and you don't know if the money is actually going to them, so, heart-rending as it is you have to shoo them away.

Location:Almond Hotel, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Indiana Jones Eat Your Heart Out

It was difficult to imagine how today could live up to yesterday's visits to Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat. We were going to see more temples in the Angkor area; ones we'd never heard off before.

Temple of Shiva

The first destination for today was the Temple of Shiva, built in the 11th century. It was a longer drive through the Cambodian countryside, and on the way we had a glimpse into the lives of some of the local people. They live in wooden shacks, usually raised on stilts all along the roadside. Many grow rice, and we saw the rice in the fields and women drying the cut rice. Others exploit the palm trees for the leaves, wood and palm sugar - which we saw them making by churning in heated metal pans, and we tasted the resulting sugary sweets (which were very tasty). 

When we got to the temple we found it was much smaller than the others we'd seen, but covered with exquisite carvings. It's also known as the 'Ladies Temple' and it did have a much more feminine feel to it. The only problem was that it was very crowded due to it's small size.

Pre Rup Temple 

Next we visited the three-tiered temple of Pre Rup. This was temple similar to Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom but was much higher, and after a tough climb there was a fantastic 360 view from the top. The steps of all the temples are very narrow and very high - this is to ensure that people have to climb in a slow and respectful way but it does make them very hard work - and potentially dangerous (not that health and safety are a high priority here).

We then visited the lake of Srah Srang which is a man-made lake used for royal ablution ceremonies which impressively large and very beautiful.

Ta Prohm

After lunch we went to another temple called Ta Prohm. By this time we were feeling a bit templed-out and weren't really looking forward to another one. This was a bit different though - it had been left in much the same state as when it was discovered and had been invaded by the jungle. The effect created by this is pure Indiana Jones; and the atmosphere is amazing; when you walk through the doorways and passages it's like visiting a huge film set. In fact, we both agreed that this was the most incredible place we've visited here so far.

Sunset from Phnom Bakeng

We rounded off the day with a climb to the top of our last temple here, Phnom Bakeng to watch the sunset. This is a very old temple and perched on top of the only hill for miles. It was a tough climb and we joined a very large crowd sat on the top watching the sun go down. The number of people made it feel like an important ceremony - but I guess its like that every day. 

Location:Ta Prohm, Cambodia

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is a very special place for me and one I've wanted to visit  for as long as I can remember. It's a large Hindu temple built in a square design and approached along a wide, ornate causeway across a lake. It has an impressive stone entrance and a central temple constructed on many levels, and is instantly recognisable by it's five distinctive towers. Again, I won't spend too long describing it but it is absolutely amazing and I feel incredibly lucky to have been there. Sally was also fascinated and amazed by it.

Sadly, it was occupied and used as a military base by the Khmer Rouge when they took power Cambodia between 1974 and 1979 and has been damaged in the fighting - we saw artillery damage, bullet holes (with bullets still embedded) and hand grenade damage.

This period has had a devastating effect on Cambodia. In these few years 2.3 million people died in this small country; many were killed just for being well educated. The father of our local guide was killed simply because he was a mathematics teacher. Today you see very few old people here as so many were killed.

This evening we went to downtown Siem Reap again and this time we did eat, or at least I did. I had a Cambodian Barbecue; you cook your own meat and vegetables on a small barbecue in the middle of your table and I had chicken, beef, squid, crocodile and snake (yum!). 

Angkor Wat is a very special place for me and one I've wanted to visit  for as long as I can remember. It's a large Hindu temple built in a square design and approached along a wide, ornate causeway across a lake. It has an impressive stone entrance and a central temple constructed on many levels, and is instantly recognisable by it's five distinctive towers. Again, I won't spend too long describing it but it is absolutely amazing and I feel incredibly lucky to have been there. Sally was also fascinated and amazed by it.

Sadly, it was occupied and used as a military base by the Khmer Rouge when they took power Cambodia between 1974 and 1979 and has been damaged in the fighting - we saw artillery damage, bullet holes (with bullets still embedded) and hand grenade damage.

This period has had a devastating effect on Cambodia. In these few years 2.3 million people died in this small country; many were killed just for being well educated. The father of our local guide was killed simply because he was a mathematics teacher. Today you see very few old people here as so many were killed.

Location:Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Angkor Thom

We woke up to a beautiful sunny morning and went down for breakfast, where I had vegetable and mushroom stir fry with fried rice and a chicken kebab - and Sally had fruit. I'm going to enjoy breakfast here!

Our guide picked us up at 8:30 and we took the short drive to the Angkor complex, past Angkor Wat to Angkor Thom. 'Thom' means large, and it is. It was built by King J7 (that's the shortened form!) who originally made Buddhism the official religion of Khmer (the old name for Cambodia) and consists of a large temple and palace complex. If I try to describe it in any detail I won't do it justice and will bore you to tears - so just look at the pics, and, if you want to know more, Google it. 

Very briefly, Angkor Thom is a large, square, walled complex surrounded by a defensive moat and a wall with a raised bank. Inside there's  a monastery, a temple, the ruins of a palace and 2 swimming pools, a normal size one for the king and a huge one (football field size) for his concubines (and it would hold a lot of concubines!).

It is a hugely impressive site and great to visit - but I do need to save a few superlatives for Angkor Wat.

Location:Angkor Thom, Cambodia

Bangkok to Siem Reap - A Very Odd Flight

While we were waiting at he gate for our flight we were puzzled by the small number of other passengers waiting - they'd hardly fill a minibus, let alone a A320. When we boarded the aircraft we found that each group of passengers was surrounded on either side by several empty  rows of seats which made the plane look even more empty. There were almost as many cabin crew as there were passengers!

We took off for our 40 minute hop to Siem Reap and after a few minutes we were served a full meal and a beer or a soft drink. As the flight was so short they started collecting the trays before we'd had a chance to eat all the food and I'd hardly touched the beer - which I had to hold onto and drink as fast as I could, before we landed.

It became obvious that we were heading for somewhere rather different to anywhere else we've been, by the small number of lights we could see when we were landing, and by the ferocity of the aircraft braking (it must have a very short runway).

On disembarking, we walked into the very small terminal building through doors flanked by very small, uniformed people. It really felt like we were visiting somewhere exotic - an impression somewhat spoilt by the TV on the wall behind passport control showing Manchester United vs Blackburn Rovers.

Our local guide was waiting to meet us and we were driven into town to the Casa Angkor Hotel. The drive was very interesting; I though that the standard of driving was bad in Cyprus but that was nothing compared to this. There was every kind of wheeled vehicle - cars, vans, scooters, tuk tuks etc, many without lights, generally driving on the right, but by no means all the time, usually with many more passengers than would be considered possible in the west - it's very common to see a family of five on a single moped. Despite all that, we did arrive safely at the hotel.

The hotel is very nice but our impression of the surrounding area was not good. We  did want to go out and have a look round though, and, after checking with reception that it was safe to do so, took a walk downtown.

It was quite an experience. Downtown Siem Reap is badly lit, dirty and pretty smelly; you can't move far without somebody offering you a tuk tuk ride, a tacky souvenir, a massage, the use of their body - or just plain begging.

We did manage to find 'Pub Street' and here you can replace 'badly-lit' with 'noisy'. As we'd eaten on the plane we didn't want any food so we decided to just have a drink and found a bar/restaurant where we could sit outside. Unfortunately, we were shown to a table next to a very unpleasant american who was obviously in Cambodia for some sex tourism a la 'Garry Glitter' - which he demonstrated by asking the very young and obviously gay waiter for a 'jump'. Sally was obviously revolted. 

Location:Pub Street, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Bangkok Temples and Palace

Up at 6 this morning for an early breakfast as we were being picked up for a Temple Tour at 7:45. Unfortunately, due to an untranslatable problem we didn't get picked up until 8:30. The tour however, when it eventually happened, was worth the wait.

Golden Buddha

We went to see the Golden Buddha (5 tons of solid gold!), the Reclining Buddha (all 46m of him) and the Marble Temple; all of which were fascinating.

Our guide was very informative, giving us loads of background information on life in Thailand, how bad the Thai government is (which struck a chord) and Buddhism. If I  had to choose a religion, which thankfully I don't, I'd choose Buddhism.

Reclining Buddha

In the afternoon we went on a tour of the Grand Palace. We also found out how bad the Bangkok traffic is - and today is a quiet day, being Sunday. The Grand Palace complex is as impressive as the temples and very big. There were parts we weren't allowed into but it was none the less amazing for that. It used to be the residence of the Thai king and is still used for many royal and state functions. It was also where a lot of the film 'The King and I' was based.

We returned to the hotel and, after another round of language-related confusion over timings, were taken to the airport for the next leg of our trip, to Siem Reap in Cambodia.

Grand Palace

We're now in the Bangkok Airways lounge at Bangkok Airport waiting to board our flight. We're both sad that we have to leave Bangkok after such a short time but agree that we will be back - for longer next time.

Location:Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok

One Night in Bangkok

Luckily, Sally woke up in time for us to take the Hotel tuk tuk to Patpong Night Market in the Silom area of Bangkok just up the road from the hotel. We could have easily walked there, but we wanted to have a tuk tuk ride - it was really great fun, and pleasantly cool in the humid evening.

The market itself was much as I expected it to be (i.e. full of counterfeit goods) but much bigger and more interesting than I thought. There was a open sit-down eating area and a large stage with a live band playing. We decided to have drink and sit down and soak up the wonderfully chilled atmosphere.

After leaving the market we took a stroll to a rather posh Thai restaurant that we'd spotted on the tuk tuk ride. I've always loved Thai food and have wanted to try it in Thailand for a long time; it didn't disappoint and Sally loved it too (apart from the sweet sesame dumplings in a ginger syrup that she ordered for dessert - that looked like testicles).

After a gentle stroll back to the hotel we're now settling down to sleep as we're being collected for a city tour in the morning.